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Weird Al is that rare artist who just keeps getting better with each new album. Early in his career, he was well loved, but was sort of pigeonholed as the guy who did all the food songs, or maybe TV songs. He has broadened his horizons, and now covers the full gamut of pop culture. This album if a great example of this. Sure, it starts off with Couch Potato, a tv-themed parody of an Eminem song, but he covers eBay, Spiderman, and...hardware? Garbage? Lepers???
The key parody here is the opening song, Couch Potato, which is a parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". There was a bit of a controversy here; Eminem have permission for the song, but not for a video. He felt it was too important to be mocked. This derailed Al's plans for the song, and a lot of the album never really came together. The only song to have a video was "Bob", and the album is one of only three Al had released that was never certified as gold; this may have been a reason why. Is a great parody, nevertheless.
The only single from this album was "eBay", a parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. It's spot on, of course, and the best parodies are the one that combine pop culture references, this one using the boy band to detail the wondrous crap people by and sell on eBay.
"Trash Day" doesn't fare as well; it misses the mark as a spoof of Nelly's "Hot in Heeere" ('there's something rotten heeere'). The same goes for the Beck style parody "Wanna Be Ur Lovr", which is perhaps too close to the source material.
I always love it when Al reaches into the past, and he does a great job with Billy Joel's "Piano Man" with "Ode to a Superhero", playing off of Spiderman. He does it again with "Bob", which is a style parody of Bob Dylan's songs. This was the only song to get a music video, which is similar to Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". The entire song is made up of palindromes, lines that read the same way backwards and forwards, just like the name "Bob". This is my favorite, one of the most creative songs he's ever done.
One true original here is "Hardware Store". This is not a parody of anything; it builds to a rapid listing of things one might find in a hardware store ('automatic circumcizers'?). It's a bit of a gimmicky song, but it works here. The polka medley is strong as always, "Angry White Boy Polka" features bits from The Vines, The Strokes, Limp Bizkit and Eminem, amongst other angry white acts.
Most Al songs feature a long song at the end, featuring lots of craziness. This one has "Genius In France", a Frank Zappa style parody. The opening guitar solo was done by Zappa's son, Dweezil. It's a spot on Zappa-esque song, sending up the French to boot. It's one of his strongest 'long' songs.
This was one of Al's least successful albums, partially due to circumstances and poor promotion. The are also some weaker songs here, but there is also some really great work on the album. It's definitely worth giving it a shot, particularly if you were around to remember the pop culture scene circa 2003.
The key parody here is the opening song, Couch Potato, which is a parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". There was a bit of a controversy here; Eminem have permission for the song, but not for a video. He felt it was too important to be mocked. This derailed Al's plans for the song, and a lot of the album never really came together. The only song to have a video was "Bob", and the album is one of only three Al had released that was never certified as gold; this may have been a reason why. Is a great parody, nevertheless.
The only single from this album was "eBay", a parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. It's spot on, of course, and the best parodies are the one that combine pop culture references, this one using the boy band to detail the wondrous crap people by and sell on eBay.
"Trash Day" doesn't fare as well; it misses the mark as a spoof of Nelly's "Hot in Heeere" ('there's something rotten heeere'). The same goes for the Beck style parody "Wanna Be Ur Lovr", which is perhaps too close to the source material.
I always love it when Al reaches into the past, and he does a great job with Billy Joel's "Piano Man" with "Ode to a Superhero", playing off of Spiderman. He does it again with "Bob", which is a style parody of Bob Dylan's songs. This was the only song to get a music video, which is similar to Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". The entire song is made up of palindromes, lines that read the same way backwards and forwards, just like the name "Bob". This is my favorite, one of the most creative songs he's ever done.
One true original here is "Hardware Store". This is not a parody of anything; it builds to a rapid listing of things one might find in a hardware store ('automatic circumcizers'?). It's a bit of a gimmicky song, but it works here. The polka medley is strong as always, "Angry White Boy Polka" features bits from The Vines, The Strokes, Limp Bizkit and Eminem, amongst other angry white acts.
Most Al songs feature a long song at the end, featuring lots of craziness. This one has "Genius In France", a Frank Zappa style parody. The opening guitar solo was done by Zappa's son, Dweezil. It's a spot on Zappa-esque song, sending up the French to boot. It's one of his strongest 'long' songs.
This was one of Al's least successful albums, partially due to circumstances and poor promotion. The are also some weaker songs here, but there is also some really great work on the album. It's definitely worth giving it a shot, particularly if you were around to remember the pop culture scene circa 2003.